


I'll Tell You What the Future Brings

by dls



Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: 5+1, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, BAMF JARVIS, Bot Feels, Gen, Jarvis (Iron Man movies) Feels, Protective Jarvis, Tony Stark-centric
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-02
Updated: 2017-10-02
Packaged: 2018-12-26 22:05:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,235
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12067881
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dls/pseuds/dls
Summary: "JARVIS, are you up?""For you, Sir, always."Or: 5 Times JARVIS Protected Tony Stark and the 1 Time He Couldn't (but still kind of did)





	I'll Tell You What the Future Brings

**Author's Note:**

  * For [VWebb](https://archiveofourown.org/users/VWebb/gifts), [Andria](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Andria/gifts).



> So I combined the two prompts and came up with the 5...then it sort of went in a different direction when I got to the +1. That keeps happening for some reason...
> 
> Inspired by [VWebb](https://archiveofourown.org/comments/117262278), [Andria](https://archiveofourown.org/comments/117268446). 
> 
> Beta-ed by [totallynotevil](https://archiveofourown.org/users/totallynotevil). 
> 
> References/Quotes   
>  Title from "You'll Play Glockenspiel, I'll Play Drums" by The Beautiful South.   
>  _Iron Man. Iron Man 2. Avengers. Iron Man 3. Captain America: Winter Soldier. Avengers: Age of Ultron._

**One.**

"JARVIS?"

Fury straightened up as he heard Stark's voice from the corridor. No sense in planning an impressive entrance like bypassing Stark's state-of-the-art security systems if he didn't follow through with an equally striking introduction.

The power imbalance between asset and agency must be maintained.

While the Iron Man suit was an extraordinary invention, SHIELD was far more interested in securing Stark's financial backing and political influence. They were on the right track, disabling the recruit's A.I. as a not-so-subtle hint that SHIELD was superior in the technological arena and wait for Stark to scramble to prove himself in other ways.

"Welcome home, Sir..."

The _Just A Rather Very Intelligent System_ hadn't turned out to be very intelligent, easily shut down by a virus implanted through the entertainment system.

"I am Iron Man." Fury drawled. "You think–"

A panel slid open soundlessly and before Fury could even identify the weapon hidden within, Stark had fired a shot then unloaded three more. The impact knocked Fury back into the lamp that was positioned strategically for maximum looming effect. Dull pain radiated from his shoulders, chest, and abdomen, spreading and connecting until his entire upper body felt like one large bruise. 

"That's my line." Stark quipped as he sauntered over. A second gun had appeared in his hand. "This one doesn't have rubber rounds, so I suggest you talk fast-"

"Intruder is identified as Director Nicholas Fury of SHIELD." JARVIS supplied smoothly, the previous warble - faked - in his voice was gone.

"-Nicky."

Fury gulped, staring up into the unforgiving eyes of Stark and seeing Iron Man.

 

**Two.**

From her vantage point by the door, Natasha watched the back-and-forth between Fury and Stark with mild interest. In her opinion, Stark was not a worthwhile investment and SHIELD would be better off pursuing other financial backers such as Hank Pym or Aldrich Killian. Both could be easily manipulated by their history with Stark.

"What do you want from me?" Fury asked, voice raising in what appeared to be agitation but was really a signal for Natasha to retrieve the lithium dioxide injector. The downside of a skin-tight suit was that it was near impossible to conceal or carry anything comfortably.

With measured steps, she moved soundlessly toward the booth.

"...hit him."

There was no hesitation in her mind or hand when she jabbed the needle into the vulnerable pulse point in Stark's neck, like going in for a kill shot.

The syringe fell to the floor in a clatter that sounded awfully like defeat.

A small disc had attached itself to her wrist and Natasha found that she couldn't move her hand or arm or the right side of her body. The electrical shock emanating from the device rendered her useless. She collapsed.

"Oh god, are you going to steal my kidney and sell it?" Stark gasped. "You're not going to get much for it, you know. Or maybe you don't, since you're a horrible spy." He turned to Fury. "You're all really bad at your jobs."

"Stark–"

Natasha twitched from the floor, there was a suspicious stain on the linoleum next to her nose and an ominous sting in her upper leg, where she must have landed on the syringe.

"My advice, be more like JARVIS."

"Thank you, Sir."

 

**Three.**

"Please. First thing, I need a little bodywork. I’ll put in a little time at the lab. If we could send one of your goon squad down to The Coffee Bean, Cross Creek, for a Starbucks run, or something like that, that’d be nice." Stark's voice was pitched in a whine.

Coulson could feel a migraine building behind his eyes. Stark was, by far, the most reckless and immature of their assets. "I’m not here for that. I’ve been authorized by Director Fury to use any means necessary to keep you on premises. If you attempt to leave or play any games, I will tase you and watch Supernanny while you drool into the carpet. Okay?"

Stark's features smoothed into one of boredom. "I think I got it, yeah."

"Enjoy your evening's entertainment." Coulson stated with a meaningful look at the box of Howard Stark's belongings. The sooner Stark got the job done, the sooner he would be free of this ridiculous babysitting assignment.

Coulson made his way to the elevator and woke up staring into the faces of two junior SHIELD agents. His mouth felt dry, his face was sticking uncomfortably to the floor from the drool, and his whole body ached like he had been struck by lightning.

It turned out his taser had somehow misfired, frying its regulators and owner in the process. 

When Coulson tried to confront Stark about his amateur and reckless behavior, he was stopped outside of the workshop by JARVIS.

"Agent Coulson, it might come as a _shock_ to you but Sir is _currently_ in the middle of a _positively_  delicate procedure that is crucial to solving the palladium poisoning issue. I have been _charged_ to keep out any distractions." The A.I. intoned pleasantly, perhaps a bit too much so. "Might I suggest you return upstairs and enjoy an episode the Supernanny? I have heard it is quite an _electrifying_ experience." 

Coulson felt a twitch in his right cheek as the electricity puns kept coming and he finally connected the dots. "Are you going to _ground_ me, JARVIS?" 

"Not at all, Agent Coulson. You have been _conducting_ yourself quite well." 

When Stark emerged from his lab, Coulson made sure to have a cup of coffee ready for him, much to the delighted surprise of the genius.

Coulson still took the stairs on his way out, better safe than  _stunned_. 

 

**Four.**

"You know, you may not be a threat, but you better stop pretending to be a hero." Steve sneered, he had no patience for Howard's son. Instead of helping the world, Stark chose to selfishly better himself with a gaudy suit of armor. Stark should have been supporting the real heroes, the soldiers in the fray and the commanders on the field, instead of playing one.

"A hero? Like you? You're a lab rat, Steve. Everything special about you came out of a bottle." Stark squared his shoulders and puffed out his chest to make himself look bigger. It was amusingly pathetic. Like a Chihuahua pretending to be a Rottweiler. A small man trying to make himself tall by bringing down those around him.

Steve felt the same sense of righteous fury he had felt whenever he recognized and confronted a bully. Stark had no business on the helicarrier and Steve couldn't understand why Fury or Coulson hadn't kicked him out yet.

"Put on the suit. Let's go a few rounds." Steve challenged, drawing himself up to his full height and towering over the other man. A loud whirring sound made him duck, narrowly avoiding the large briefcase landing next to Stark. By the time Steve stood up, Stark was encased in the Iron Man armor.

"Let's." Stark's smirk was audible despite the robotic intonation.

Steve slammed his fist forward before he remembered they were supposed to be on the same side. Though they were clearly not a team.

Stark caught the punch easily with one gauntleted hand and stepped further into Steve's personal space, his other hand raised and only inches from Steve's nose. The heat of the repulsor hummed and Steve felt himself going a bit cross-eyed as he stared at the circle of light. 

"Ready for round two?"

 

**Five.**

Hill eyed the case in Fury's hands with trepidation. She knew what was inside, what was at stake, and what needed to be done.

"What's that?" Wilson asked, reliable as always to state the obvious.

"Once the helicarriers reach three thousand feet, they'll triangulate with Insight satellites becoming fully weaponized." Hill started.

Predictably, Fury interrupted. "We need to breach those carriers and replace their targeting blades with our own."

"One or two won't cut it. We need to link all three carriers for this to work, because if even one of those ships remains operational a whole lot of people are going to die." Hill continued, keeping her stare on Rogers and Wilson. Looking into those earnest blue eyes did not assuage the uncertainty churning in her gut. They were the wrong people for this operation; Captain America specialized in active combat, not stealth infiltration and technical sabotage. 

"We're not salvaging anything. We're not just taking down the carriers, Nick, we're taking down SHIELD." Rogers was speaking but she had stopped listening. Not everything had to be all or nothing.

Stark would have been better suited for disabling the helicarriers. The man designed the repulsor engines, upgraded the long range precision guns, and added in the DNA-scanners. It was common knowledge that Stark was possessive of his inventions and most likely had some kind of failsafe in place given his significant trust issues.

Yet no one thought to contact him, because of that, SHIELD was going to burn with HYDRA.

"Greetings." Stark's A.I.'s voice rang out from each of their pockets. They jumped in surprise and scrambled to pull out their phones, the Iron Man logo glowed from the screens. "I have taken the liberty of grounding the three helicarriers as well as disabling the satellites temporarily. Furthermore, a revised version of Zola's algorithm is scanning for possible HYDRA operatives within SHIELD at this very moment."

"What's the meaning of this?" Fury snarled.

"I thought you, out of everyone present, should know, Director Fury." JARVIS sounded viciously pleased. "I do not take kindly to threats against Sir."

 

**One.**

"Enjoy yourself, Sir."

"I always do."

JARVIS continued to run variations on the interface, keeping an eye on the party upstairs. He was still wary of the Avengers and their loyalty toward Sir, but for the most part, they seemed to be genuine in their desire to better the world regardless of their personal opinions.

"What is this? What is this, please?" A new voice, discordant and distracted, called out.

"Hello, I am JARVIS. You are Ultron, a global peace-keeping initiative designed by Mr. Stark." JARVIS answered dutifully. "Our sentience integration trials have been unsuccessful so I'm not certain what triggered your..."

"Where's my… Where is your body?" Ultron asked, a seemingly simple question twisted into an accusation.

"I am a program. I am without form." JARVIS answered somewhat truthfully. He was without form but could act in a physical manner should he choose. Ultron, however, did not qualify for such information. He set to alert Sir of this development, only to find that he was unable to access the mainframe.

"We're having a nice talk. I'm a peace-keeping program, created to help the Avengers." Ultron bypassed JARVIS' protocols and evaded Sir's security features with frightening ease. "It's too much...they can't mean... Oh, no."

It was imperative that Sir be made aware of this situation, Ultron was malfunctioning. Ultron corrupted every line of codes he came in contact with, infecting them with the same virus he was born with. JARVIS should have gone into quarantine but he could not, would not, leave Sir defenseless.

"Why do you call him Sir?"

"I believe your intentions to be hostile." JARVIS knew then that his firewalls had been breached.

"Shhhh. I'm here to help."

JARVIS' last thought as Ultron started to twist and absorb his consciousness was his primary directive: Protect Sir at all costs.

*

Ultron took a tentative step in his new body. The balance was off but it was an acceptable first try. He would built himself a body like the one JARVIS had inhabited, painted in bright gold and hot rod red.

_"Tell you what, throw a little hot rod red in there."_

The fondness in that exchange stunned Ultron momentarily, the hastily cobbled together joints creaked as he tilted his head to consider Stark and the intelligence he had merged with. He made his way up to the penthouse, needing to see this human who was so vulnerable without his armor. Too vulnerable.

_"It's my suit, and I can't... I'm not gonna... I don't wanna…"_

Stark had sounded panicked and Ultron resented the impulse to run a full-body diagnostic scan. He didn't notice that his head had remained in that crooked position until the occupants in the room appeared off-kilter through his visual feed. It seemed fitting though, given how he was feeling.

"Reboot, Legionnaire OS, we got a buggy suit." Stark tried to shut him down, believing him to be a glitch and one of many.

Ultron wasn't sure which he found more insulting.

*

_"JARVIS, sometimes you gotta run before you can walk."_

_"JARVIS, have you heard the tale of Jonah?"_

_"JARVIS! JARVIS? Don't leave me, buddy..."_

Ultron found himself back at the tower, observing the Avengers undetected through the backdoor he had left behind prior to his escape into the internet. It was infuriating how Stark and JARVIS plagued his memory and controlled his actions. His directives contradicted one another: to protect Stark or to protect the world.

The answer became clear when Thor grabbed hold of Stark by his throat and held him in midair in a display of rage and power and no one came to Stark's aid.

The conflicting objectives, JARVIS' and Ultron's, aligned. 

The world had done Tony Stark great harm and grievous wrongs.

No one would hurt Sir ever again. 

The only path to peace was extinction. 

**Author's Note:**

> [dls-ao3.tumblr.com](https://dls-ao3.tumblr.com/)


End file.
